Stewards Not Owners | Overflow Pt. 3

Discover the life-changing truth about biblical stewardship and money management from a Christian perspective. This message explores why Jesus talked about money more than almost any other topic and how our relationship with finances reveals our heart toward God. Learn the difference between being an owner versus a steward of God's resources and discover three essential areas every believer must consider: giving, living, and building for the future. Explore practical biblical principles for financial stewardship, Christian money management, and generous giving that align with Scripture. Understand how to invite God into your financial decisions and break free from the cultural mindset of ownership that can lead to spiritual bondage. This teaching covers key biblical passages about stewardship including Psalm 24:1, Job 41:11, and Jesus' parables about faithful managers in Luke 12. Whether you're struggling with financial anxiety, wondering about tithing and giving, or seeking to align your spending habits with biblical values, this message provides practical wisdom for Christian living. Learn how to distinguish between needs and wants, practice biblical generosity, and experience the freedom that comes from understanding your role as a steward rather than an owner. Perfect for anyone interested in biblical financial principles, Christian stewardship, faith-based money management, or understanding what the Bible says about wealth and possessions. Discover how to live with open hands and a generous heart while being a faithful manager of everything God has entrusted to your care.


This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

Speaker: Luke Humbrecht 
Series: Overflow 
Scripture: Luke 12 
YouTube: https://youtu.be/gcB3r2RlGx8

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. The Church of the Lookout is an old of Colorado, and our vision is Jesus, abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love. Visit us online at thelookout.church. Like I mentioned previously, we've been in this teaching series called Overflow, and it's been a series on uh money, formation, and living free. Those are kind of the three big ideas within this. We're gonna jump back in to this today, and uh I think it's gonna be a great word. If you have your Bibles, you can open up to Luke chapter 12. If you have your Bibles, pull up your phones, whatever you need to do. Um, and I'll give you some time to get there. I'll give you the big idea though. Um, the series on overflow, that one of the one of the big premises of this teaching series, why would we talk about money in the church? Because money is not a neutral thing. Um, our relationship with money actually forms us from the inside out. Uh and it brings to focus what we actually believe about God and our relationship to God as sons and daughters, which has everything to do with the kind of people that we are becoming. And so this is why Jesus, he just he spoke about money a lot, not because he was obsessed with money, because he was obsessed with the heart and the kind of people we would become in this world, right? And so that's why he talked about money more than almost everything else, uh, you know, over 25% of the time. Okay. So there's have been a few building blocks over the last couple weeks. And and if you haven't heard the other messages, I do encourage you to go back and listen to these other messages because they all kind of do build on each other. The first week we talked about how your father in heaven is rich. Okay? This is the first thing we have to look at. We don't start with just us and what we have, we start with who God is. And the reality is our father in heaven is rich. That's the nature of God. And because that's his nature, that's what actually empowers us to be generous because he is generous. And when we're generous, we're like him because that's his very nature. Amen. And and so, but the second week, though, we looked at one of Jesus' teachings. He said, Not only is the father rich, but there is a counterfeit father, if you will. And he's and he said it like this you cannot serve both God and money. And that word money is this word mammon, and it's a powerful force. Mammon is a spirit. Mammon promises us riches, but leads us back into slavery, to greed, to anxiety, and this never enough kind of mindset. And some of you know what that feels like. It's just never enough. And that's how we know that we're under the influence of mammon because we're removed from the safe care and the protection of our Father, who is generous towards us, and we we become under the influence, what powers most of the world right now in the day that we live in, the spirit of mammon, he seeks to control and drive us and drive us and drive us to always take and take and take. But that's not the way that God has designed for us to live and has invited us to live. He's called us to live in our belovedness as sons and daughters, and that and that changes the way that we relate. So that's why this week we're gonna come back to God and the reality that everything belongs to Him. So Luke chapter 12, you guys there? Okay. If you're not there, it's okay, we'll have it on the screen. Um, we're gonna read a parable from Jesus, okay? This one's uh this one's got layers to it. And we'll talk about it. Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 42. And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household, to give them the portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, My master is delayed in coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink, and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what what deserved a beating will receive the light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So that's a parable, guys. That's a parable. So Annie Dillard told the story about some British explorers and their search for the North Pole in the 1800s. They knew it would be a two to three-year journey, yet each sailing vessel carried only a 12-day supply of coal. Instead of bringing more coal, each ship made room for a 1,200-volume library, a hand organ playing 50 tunes, China place settings for officers and men, cut glass wine goblets, and sterling silver flatware. They carried no special clothing for the Arctic except for the uniforms of the Queen's Navy. When the Eskimos came across their frozen remains, the men were all dressed up, pulling a lifeboat full of sterling silver and chocolate. Isn't it amazing what happens when we cling so closely to the things that we value? Over time, what happens when we cling so closely to the things that we believe are ours, we actually start to lose perspective. We start to lose perspective on our lives, on who God is, and what we're actually entrusted to do and our part in the story of God. And so Jesus, what's really interesting in the gospel is he tells these parables, and some of them have to do with uh with masters and managers, similar to the parable that we just read. And they essentially, then the purpose of these parables is a way of basically getting at a truth or reality of the dynamic of God's world versus our world. And and what's really interesting is that there are about five different parables where Jesus uses a similar scenario where a master goes away and then he returns to see what he finds when he returns. And so a few of these, and we'll put these on the screen. There's the parable of the talents that some of you guys know. There's the parable of the minus or the pounds, there's the parable of the faithful and wise manager, that's the one we just read, the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16, and then the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. And here's what's really interesting about all of these. None of them are the same. They all have different nuances and different angles to them, but they have the same kind of template. And in this template, the master departs, resources are left behind, and those who are left with the resources have to decide what to do with them. And then when the master's, when the master returns, all the accounts are settled, and then the faithful servants receive more, and the ones who were not faithful with what it, there's some kind of a consequence. And so uh so he tells this in several different ways, and this is probably it probably hit home with a first-century audience because there was a lot of property managers and and uh and and owners and real estate owners with property managers who were entrusted in scenarios like this. But Jesus tells these kinds of stories to describe how the present age works, which is this you're always managing something that belongs to another. You're always managing something that belongs to another. And there is a returning coming. And faithfulness, according to Jesus, is never just about now, it's about something God is doing for all of time. And so what's really interesting about this kind of parable, it's a parable that's about readiness, watchfulness, even the ability to anticipate the return of God. And so this goes beyond this parable, it while it has to do with possessions and how what we do with what's entrusted to us, it goes beyond how we handle money. It's actually the practice for the kind of person you're becoming in all of eternity. Because the scripture is really clear, this is important. Our life in the present age is a training ground for the ruling and reigning with God in eternity. Your life in this present age isn't just about nailing it before you die, you know, and getting it perfect. It's actually practice for living with God in a renewed heaven and earth. And he actually has every intention to entrust us with more in the new world that he's creating. And you guys, can we just put our minds there for a second? We live so, so down here, and yet our lives are not just about our lives, it's about this huge picture. That Jesus is returning. I thought I'd get a little bit more on that one. Jesus is going to return in flesh. In flesh, the real God. He left any physical body, he will return in a physical body. That's not what this sermon's about, but I just want to get excited about that for a second. We don't talk about that enough. And he's saying, hey, listen, while I'm away, I want you to remember what you're entrusted with. God's ultimate desire, here's one of the big points there, that God's ultimate desire is to trust us with more so that we can rule with him over the heavens and the earth. So stewardship starts now, not later. It starts now, not later. Okay? You guys with me? So a few things that we're gonna dig into within this parable, this first principle, which shouldn't be a surprise to you, but it's something we need to be reminded of, is this everything belongs to God. Can you say that with me? Everything belongs to God. So most of us with live with a quiet assumption that what I earn is mine, what I bought is mine, what I built is mine. And we live in a culture of ownership. There's nothing wrong with ownership. But on the surface, it seems harmless. Um, but there's more to it. And even in the church, some of us can have the belief that, yeah, it all came from God, but but then he gave it to me. So now it's mine. It started his. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, God, but you gave it to me, and I'll take it from here, right? I'm thankful because now I can just do whatever the heck I want with it. That's what that's the way we think. Um, and we learned this from a young age. In nurseries and playgrounds all around the world, you hear a word that is declared, it's announced with such authority. Before you ever understood the alphabet or the fundamentals of mathematics, even our toddlers they have an understanding of how the economy works, and we know this because of the word that they declare shamelessly, and that word is mine with that face. Mine. I don't know anything about how the world works, but I know that's mine. Get your hands up, that one's mine. That mine, right? It's like, how did they so it's like from the very nobody had a taught, nobody taught us about kingdoms as a toddler. And yet somehow we we we we start growing and developing a framework that, oh, I'm here to recruit people into my kingdom, right? And and I'm convinced that parenting at this point in time really is a battle of competing kingdoms. Um, you know, our kids come out thinking that we arrived into their kingdom, right? And all of parenting is about reminding your kids, no, you arrived in my kingdom. But then when we come into Christ, we come out to find later, like, oh no, we've all arrived into God's kingdom. It's not my kingdom or your kingdom, it's actually God's kingdom. There's actually only one kingdom, and it's his kingdom. So before we talk about what's ours and our home and our money and our retirement account, we'd skip the foundation right. God owns it all. The dirt, the air, the breath in your lungs, your job, your skill, your gifting, your good looks, the years you've been, the years you've been given, none of it began with you, and none of it will terminate on you. It's all a gift that we've been given for a very short period of time. And the the whole council of scripture brings us back into this, book by book, chapter by chapter, the whole thing, and yet somehow we still have to be reminded of this. Psalm 24, verse 1, says this the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Come on, the earth is the Lord's. Job 41. Who has first given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. Okay. Deuteronomy 10. Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is in it. Psalm 50. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills, I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world and its fullness are mine. I love that. It's a little snarky, isn't it? Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't even tell you. Because it's mine, it's not your this is mine. And we love that. He's he's cattle on a thousand hills, and so we're like, can I just have one of those cattle? You know, I'll just take one. I could do a lot with one. So all of these things that everything belongs to God. And what that means is that while we get to share, we're gifted the existence that we we've been gifted, what that means is that we are managers, or as some translations say this word steward, which is a very churchy word, because it doesn't really appear anywhere else. If this word steward, some translations say steward, and what that means is essentially a manager. We've been entrusted as stewards. And it's not unlike if you have an investment manager or a property manager, somebody who you have put in charge for a very specific purpose. Um, and in this parable, the manager's first responsibility, the steward's first responsibility was to distribute food to those in the house, to make sure that the ones in the house are cared for. But the servant who forgot the fact that the master would return, he he's like, ah, he's delayed, I'll just do whatever I want. He he lost an attentiveness to there is a return coming. And because of that, he mishandled the resources given to him. He got lazy, started to treat everything like it was his. And in many ways, we have this, we face the same temptations. We might not have the same kind of scenario like that. But come on, how easy is it to just get into autopilot and we just we're just caught up, but we gotta pay the bills, we gotta save for this, we gotta do this, I really want to buy this. We get caught up in the management of life and sometimes forget that our primary role on earth is as a steward of what God has given to us. Okay? Now, there's actually a few different things that we do get confused, or a couple other ways that we we drift into different types of roles or identities. And that's why there's a difference between an owner, a non-owner, and a steward. Let's talk about those for a second. Three postures towards money or possessions or wealth or anything entrusted to us. Three postures. The posture of owner says this it's all mine and I'll do what I want. Okay? Well, it's all mine, and I'm just gonna do what I want. This is a very dominant Western posture because we're so independent and we're so affluent. We have absolute rights, no accountability to anybody. And this is the rich fool in Luke 12. It's an unfaithful servant who unfaithful servant who assumes that the master isn't coming back and there is no accountability to what's been given. And the danger here really is autonomy. Um, it's autonomy that that quietly just becomes idolatry of it. I control how the world works. And it's a it's a it's an illusion. It's it's a complete illusion that we are not actually owners of what we've been given. And I hate to break that to you. If that's bad news to you, I'm I hope it's not bad news to you because it's actually better to be a steward. We'll talk about that in a second. But we have to be reminded we're not actually owners. Even the things that we own, we're entrusted with for a period of time. So we can drift into the mindset of ownership, but but then the pendulum swing of that is like, oh, I'm not an owner, I must be a non-owner. And that's not what we're talking about either, because a non-owner says it like this. None of it's mine, so it's not my problem. That's what a non-owner says. None of it's mine, so what do I what do I care? What do I care about what's going on over this? It's God's, right? Or or you know, it's not my it's not my thing to, it's not my thing to have to deal with, right? It sounds humble, but it's actually a form of abdication. And there's a couple different nuances to a non-owner mindset. One is a renter mindset. So that that might say like this: none of it's mine, so I don't need to take care of it. Case in point, nobody has ever taken a rental car through a car wash. Have you ever taken a rental car through a car wash? Who here has ever changed the fluids on a rental car? All right? All right, whoever has got a like a deep, clean waxing, and you know, you got out there on a Saturday and cleaned the rent. It's like, no, like nobody's doing that to a rental car. It's not, it's not yours. And it's also why nobody wants to buy a rental car when you're shopping for cars. You once the Carfax flags it as a rental car, you're out. Because you know exactly what happened in that rental car. Right? And it's the same thing. A non-owner does not take care of what's been entrusted to them because it's not their problem. But even in the church, there's sometimes a passivity that we cloak in spirituality. Um, we can say none of it's mine, so I'll just wait for God to handle it. And and and really what it can become, it's neglect through a spiritualized passivity. It sounds like faith, but it's a lack of responsibility. Let me just remind you: it is possible to believe that God provides and still go get your butt to work. Okay, I'll just leave that one right there. It's okay to believe that God provides, and you're still doing what you can with what you've been given. So we're not owners, we're not non-owners. What we are is stewards. Here's what a steward would say: I'm responsible for taking care of what's been trust entrusted to me. This is the third way. It's responsibility without possession. You can enjoy it fully, you invest it wisely, you hold it loosely because you know whose it is and why it was given to you. That is the role of a steward. To know this is what's been given to me, and it's for my master's purposes and what he wants me to do with it. And we'll talk about that a little bit more here in a second. So, this passage, though, it does get it, you know, it uses pretty harsh language as Jesus talks about the relationship of the owner to the property manager, to the steward. And it ends with this stern warning everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. And it, you know, it might even be possible to read this, and you read something like that, it almost sounds like a threat. Like, don't screw this up. You're gonna get the beating, right? And and so it's hard even reading a parable like this to look at the tone. The tone feels more severe than some of Jesus' other teachings about God is a gracious father, right? It sounds more harsh, especially, especially if you're aware that you haven't been a good steward in your life. Or maybe like there's periods of your life that you're still walking in some regret of bad decisions. And so you might be thinking, geez, uh how does God view me? How does God think of me? Is God like a property owner? Is he going to judge us harshly if we squander what's been given to us? Or is he like the father to the prodigal son? And yeah, after the prodigal son squandered the money, he was welcomed back in. Which one is it? A harsh property manager or a caring, compassionate father? Um, and I just want to encourage us when we read a parable like this, it's not to meant to be an all encompassing picture of the heart of God in every particular situation. It doesn't neglect everything that Jesus says about his gracious, compassionate nature for us, okay? Even twelve verses earlier, Jesus says, Fear not, little flock, for it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 12 verses before he said that the property owner was going to cut the foolish manager into pieces, right? It's like, yikes! That's the kind of the hard thing when we read the Bible is putting those two things together. But it's not a contradiction, it's an invitation. And I just want to point this out. Um, the servant who is found faithful is not getting a report a performance review. The invitation is to get seated at the master's table and be served by him. The one who is a steward who is faithful is what he's entrusted to ends up being seated at the master's table to be served by him. That's a shocking detail that often gets missed. That the returning master puts on his apron and waits on the faithful servant. That God's invitation is always, hey, we're going to do this together, and I'm going to serve you as well. And I just want to emphasize this: that when we come into the kingdom, you are not an anonymous employee. You are a steward, and that means you are trusted by God. You are trust, you are trusted by God. He trusts you. That's good news. He trusts you, and that is dignity. What he's saying in this passage is you're not a spectator. You're not just a cog in the machine. You're not just an anonymous servant. You've been entrusted with real things, your income, your home, your influence, your time, your gifts. The question isn't whether you will give an account, the question is what kind of account will you give? And again, when you look at the whole council of scripture from start to finish, there's a flow. There's like a river that flows through it. And it began with Abraham. And it continues through the scripture. And in Genesis 12, God comes to Abraham and says, Listen, I am going to bless you so that you will be a blessing. I'm going to do such incredible work in your life. I'm going to resource you more than you could ever imagine for generations to come. And it didn't stop there. It's so that you can be a blessing. You guys get that? It's the flow, it's the river of God that flows. It's the river, it's the overflow in this image. I'm going to bless you because my intention is to do something through you. And this is the same thread that goes that walks through these parables of listen, I want to entrust you with what I've given to you. And I want you to take that seriously. Not in a way that makes you afraid, per se, but there is a sober-mindedness. Even as sons and daughters of God who are beloved by God, there's a sober-mindedness that I am dealing with the resources that has been given to me by God. Absolutely. So we are blessed in order to bless. And so the invitation in that, again, is that God trusts us. And so as a steward, we must stay awake and aware and prepare, be prepared for what opportunities come so that we can be in the flow of what God is doing, that we can be on mission with the Father in the life that He's given. So, on a practical lens, there's an easy way to kind of think through this. What does a life of stewardship look like? And I just want to invite you to think about this with everything that you've been entrusted. There's really three broad categories you can think of this through. And I want you to think through everything that you have, you have in your possession through these categories. And there are three words. Give, live, and build. Give, live, and build. Everything that we've been entrusted are given for these three purposes that we've been given things by God to live from. That's good. God gives us what we need to live, and even the not just our needs, but even desires of our heart. God loves when we're able to delight in what He's given as well. But some of what He's given to us is in order to give, that it flows through us. He trusts us with what is able to pass through us, right? And then some of what He's given to us is for the sake of building, not just for us, not just for them, but future generations, for that what we've been given is actually generational, or maybe for the communities that we belong to. So giving, so let's look at this for just one at a time. What is the master asking me to release out of what you've given? And when you think about what you've been given, when you think about your income, when you think about what you possess, how quickly does generosity come to mind? How quickly does the tithe come to mind? How quickly does kingdom thinking come to mind? Do you have it built into your framework that this is just a part of good stewardship? Because God is entrusting me with the responsibility of caring for what he cares about. That means it needs to flow through me. Sometimes we wait to give until we have enough to give, but that's not really a good stewardship. It starts with what's been given to me and staying attentive to what he's called us to release. And then some of what he's been given to us, probably the majority of what he's given to us, is for what our family or how your household actually needs to live a healthy, faithful life. Your rhythms, what brings joy, what would tend to the needs. And this is a good thing. God provides for us according to our needs. And that's not something that we have to be ashamed about. And it's not something that we have to move away, we we have to uh diminish the actual needs in our life, right? And so we have to be honest with what we need to actually live, but we also invite God into that. God, give me a picture of what I need and what's the difference between what I need and me just accumulating things, which is a temptation of us, especially in the West, to accumulate things without question. And it's something we have to be careful of of how much do we consume without question or without invitation to God? Are we inviting God into our shopping habits? Are we inviting God into our wish lists? That's a good question. So give, live, and to build. What am I being invited to build for the future, either in my family, the community, the kingdom, even this room here is here because of your generosity, but actually, generosity of people who lived decades, that were here part of this community decades ago, that had enough foresight to say we're gonna build something on this hill, we're gonna build a facility, we're gonna do something that's gonna go and move beyond us. And listen, you will be invited to the same kinds of opportunities, um, both here and beyond, to give to things that you might not even be able to see the fruit of. But that's part of our responsibility to not just live on what we need, but to help build for the future, both here and abroad. Are you guys with me? And so the reason we have to look at these three categories, and I want to encourage you, even in your own finances, to look at these three categories is because it's so easy just to run on autopilot. We just have a set it and forget it mindset, and we get used to living to a certain kind of standard. And sometimes when we do that, we forget that the primary role of this manager, this steward, was to, his first role was to feed the others in the house. And so sometimes we live while others are starving. Stewardship is the slow, prayerful work, though, of bringing all of these three things into alignment with the master's heart. We bring all of these things into the presence of God as beloved sons and daughters, knowing that He is going to return. That is a real thing. And all of us will be asked, hey, how did you do? And the goal, and the purpose of that is not to evoke shame. I'm sure every person in this room has has some regrets about a purchase, an investment, or a squandering of some point in your life. There's things you wish you would have done different if you could have gone back 10 or 20 or 30 years. Okay, that's probably all of us. The point here is not to heap on you ought to and you should have, but I I am entrusting you, and you get to walk with me and partner with me for the sake of my purposes in this world. So, and I get when it comes to how this actually works out, I get some of the challenges here. You know, I live in Boulder County, right? I'm raising three children with sports and horses and braces. And I get that it's just not simple all the time. How to build and how to live and how to give. It's like, yikes. And when you get into the Bible, when you get into the New Testament, there's not actually a solid formula that's gonna tell you exactly how to do it. Here's exactly what God approves of, and here's exactly what he hates, right? There's not a whole lot in there. There is some of it about how we're how we're to move and that we are to take care of the poor and we are to be good stewards, right? But how nice of a car you should drive, you're not gonna find that in Colossians, right? How many pairs of shoes we should we should own, uh, you're not gonna find that any of in any of Jesus' parables. And that's why we need the Holy Spirit. This is why you can't even talk about this without living in friendship and ongoing conversation with the Holy Spirit to direct us on what pleases his heart. And how does he want to take care of our needs, but then also flow through us so that our life is a blessing. So every blessing he gives us becomes a blessing to others. And so, really, all of that comes back to this central question for us here today. And forgive me if this sounds elementary, but I found that even in the church, we're not always great at asking this question, which is this do you listen to God about money? Do you listen to God about money? So if if we were to pull this room and which we're not going to do, there's probably a few different people. Number one, you might be in here and you don't listen to God at all. Maybe you just you haven't you haven't yet stepped into friendship with the Holy Spirit? That God loves to be invited to every part of your life. It's way better than coming to church on a Sunday morning. I love coming to church on a Sunday morning, but living with God and inviting him to every part of life. There's nothing like that, right? So some of us, maybe you don't listen to God at all, but maybe some of you, you listen to God about a lot of things, just not your money. You're getting all kinds of prophecies and dreams about all kinds of things that you've never submitted. Like, but God, what do you have to say about what you've given to me? And that would be a huge question, and even a step here today, just to even open that up. Like, God, what do you have to say? Some of you actively listen all the time. And that's this is a way of life. Like, you you can't, you've been doing this long enough where even everything you've been given, you've you're just inviting him in because you know it's the master's resources, right? I love this the story of C.S. Lewis. He's the writer of the Chronicles and Narnia series and many other um great books. He had what he called an agape fund or agapany, is what he called it. C. S. Lewis kept a fund, a portion of his royalties from book sales set aside specifically to give away. Sometimes he called the money agopony or love money, he called it. Because he didn't see his book sales as his, he saw them on loan with the designated outflow already built in. And it's just it's a really interesting thing. He made that decision very early on. And it's just interesting to think about what if we all have a love fund? What if we all just before we ever receive anything, we pre-decided in our heart what will what is going to go out? Um and it's released before we ever even get our hands on it. It's just money that we're transporting from the master's hand straight to its destination. What if we live like that? That we don't even have to go through these really complicated algorithms and formulas and spreadsheets to figure out what we actually have to squeeze out. But before it gets to us, we've just predecided this is like I am a river. I am a river, and it flows through me because that's the heart of God through the scriptures. One of uh one of my uncles, Megan's uncle recently gave his life to Jesus. And he's uh he's a businessman, he he's he's an entrepreneur, he started many nonprofits, many very successful organizations. And and a couple years ago, he gave his heart to Jesus. And uh and one of the things that just blew him away is he attended this seminar called Faith-Driven Entrepreneur, and he was telling me that this just blew him away. He attended, he attended this thing, and the person who was speaking at this seminar said, Imagine if as you were building your business, if God was your co-CEO, right? And and he see Ms. Kevin, he came to me, he's like, Can you believe that? Like his mind was he's like, I have never, ever thought that God could be my co-CEO. That was revolutionary for him. Revolutionary. He'd lived his entire life. The thought had never crossed his mind that God is my co-CEO. So the last couple years, everything he's been doing is like I see he starts his day and he consults with his co-CEO of what do you want to do today? And and it's led to his life, and he's going into his church now, he's doing all these things, he's hosting other businessmen and marketplace guys, and they're all dreaming about how do we do the marketplace thing with God, not apart from God, but with God. And it was just a brilliant thing, and I just realized this is not, this is all revolutionary, that we get to work with God and the fountain and listening to him, stewarding what he's given for the blessing of the world. Come on, what a life that we've been given that we get to do this. What other what else would we want to do but to overflow the heart and the love of God? So here's what I want to do this morning as we're coming into close here. I do think just having a space here this morning to invite conversation with the Holy Spirit on some of these questions that we've already talked about around being a good steward. And again, I'll just recognize here too, maybe in your household, you're not as connected to what you have or what you don't have. I'm just gonna talk about the posture of your heart. Because this is an invitation to all of us, because this is the practice of who we're becoming. So just close your eyes with me around the room, and we're gonna invite the Holy Spirit of God to speak to us. Yeah, Holy Spirit, we invite you. We thank you. We thank you that you are trustworthy. And across the room here, Holy Spirit, we invite you to speak to us. Would you give us pictures in our minds, thoughts in our hearts? Bring to mind the scriptures. I'm just gonna ask a couple questions, three questions in particular, and I just want to invite you just to give some space to listen. The first question that you can pose before the Father is this, Father, is there any part of my finances that I've kept you out of? Is there any part of what I've been given that I have kept you out of? Just pay attention to what comes to mind. And maybe maybe you found that there's parts of your life that are easy to submit to God and parts of your of your life that are harder to submit to God. Maybe you haven't yet submitted your business. You do some stuff over here on the side, but you've not touching this part. Or maybe you're afraid of the money you spend on having fun, or things that feel like bring you joy. And maybe even the thought of inviting God, there's it brings a little fear. Like, God, what's he gonna say? Is he gonna let me have any more fun? And I think like if you if you come in touch with some of that emotion, I just want to encourage you to ask, huh, what's coming up? Is it fear that comes up? Maybe it's shame of having gotten it wrong before. So it's just too hard to bring it back to God. Maybe there's regret. As you pay attention to that, and feel free to write this stuff down when we're done here too, so you don't forget it. But here's another question I just want to hold before this. Is there anything I am holding on to so tightly that it's now owning me? Is there anything in my life that I'm holding on to so tightly that it's now owning me? You might know this is the case because it keeps you up at night. It could even be an account, it might not even be a thing, it could just be the thought of a college fund or retirement or the idea of something. Is there anything that you're holding on to so tightly as if you're an owner, but it's now owning you. And if you become in touch with something, I would form it into a prayer to say, Father, help me surrender this back to you. Show me how to hold this rightly, not too tightly and not too loosely. And then the last question here is this. This goes into what we're just at. Is there anything to pose this question before the Lord, is there anything you want me to adjust in the way that I give, the way that I live, or the way that I build? And maybe there's just a this maybe you just hear one small whisper. Just give a room for that. Just trust that God's gonna speak to each person what you need to hear. The way that you give, the way that you live, or the way that you build. So I want to leave you with those questions, and I just and the broader invitation is this take some time this week. If you haven't done it recently, hold those questions before God and ask him, what do you I invite you into everything I have. What do you have to say? And the invitation is to respond, not to think about it, but to actually respond. Because it's in the obedience is the blessing, it's in the obedience is the overflow. And one last thing I will say is this some of these questions are kind of difficult to work through on your own. They're actually better to work through in community. I know sometimes we get tripped up by the stewardship thing. Am I a good steward, a bad steward? All these things, and it can it can be kind of overbearing. I just say invite somebody into the conversation with you and share with each other. Hey, what are you learning about living and building and giving? And have the conversation with somebody, hopefully in this community or maybe somebody in your, you know, in your family. And just talk about it. Because as we do, we're sharpening each other and we're learning to be faithful with what God's given us. Amen. And this is all for the sake of freedom. Imagine if every person in this room was living with such freedom that God was just free to move in the components of our life. None of us were held down, but we were faithful with what God. That's what He wants for us. This is about your joy. This is about you living as a beloved son and daughter so that you can live, continue to live as a blessing, a steward of God, one trusted by God as we walk this planet. Amen. This is part of it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So let's stand together. Let's stand. And uh and I want to invite you this morning, if there's anything on your heart that you need prayer for, we're gonna have our ministry team on the sides of the room. You'll see a purple uh badge. And these are people on our prayer team. And if you if you're here today, you're just like, I need someone to pray with me, and I don't even know what I need prayer for. Maybe you do know what you need prayer for. You just want someone to pray with you about anything we talked about this morning, maybe about a relationship with Jesus or prayer for healing if you need healing. We just want to invite you to go to the sides and receive prayer when we're done. But as we go, listen, as as we're as as we leave this place, what I my prayer is that we're we're we're walking out with the confidence, knowing that we're not passive participants in the kingdom of God. We are trusted stewards. We are beloved sons and daughters in the family business, in the business of blessing in this world. So may the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you, may He be gracious to you, may He lift His countenance upon you and give you peace. All right, go in the strength and the peace of the kingdom of God. Love you guys.